Last Tango In Paris, the 1972 erotic thriller, has gone down in infamy thanks to a controversial scene in which Marlon Brando’s character uses a stick of butter to anally rape another character played by Maria Schneider.

Now footage of the film’s director Bernardo Bertolucci has surfaced from 2013 in which Bernardo admits the scene was non-consensual and neither him nor Marlon warned Maria in advance.

‘The sequence of the butter is an idea that I had with Marlon in the morning before shooting,’ said Bernardo in the interview recorded at the La Cinémathèque Française in Paris.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci in 2013 (Picture: Getty Images)

He goes on to admit that although he ‘in a way’ felt guilty for his treatment of Maria, a 19-year-old actress in her first English-language film, he would never ‘regret’ the decisions he made because he ‘wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress’.

‘I wanted her to react humiliated,’ he said.

‘I think she hated me and also Marlon because we didn’t tell her … to obtain something I think you have to be completely free,’ he added.

‘I didn’t want Maria to act her humiliation, her rage, I wanted her to Maria to feel … the rage and humiliation. Then she hated me for all of her life.’

Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris (Picture: United Artists)

Maria had previously admitted in an interview that she was ‘crying real tears’ during the scene and that she ‘felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, both by Marlon and by Bertolucci’.

‘After the scene, Marlon didn’t console me or apologise. Thankfully, there was just one take,’ she told the Daily Mail.

Rape crisis

Alternatively, you can call the national Rape Crisis helpline (run by our member organisation Rape Crisis South London) on 0808 802 9999 between 12 noon – 2.30pm and 7 – 9.30pm any day of the year and also between 3 – 5.30pm on weekdays for confidential support and/or information about your nearest services.